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          <p><em>The following tourist information is taken from internetromanesc.com. For more details visit the <a href="http://www.romaniatourism.com/monasteries.html">Official Romanian Tourism Information Website</a>.</em></p>

          <h3><strong>Churches, monasteries</strong></h3>

          <p>&quot;Above all that can be seen in Moldavia, there are the  strange churches that, through the polychromy of their facades, can be compared  to the San Marco Church in Venice, or the Dome in Orvieto&quot; wrote the art  critic Josef Strzygowski. (...) &quot;Art and spiritual life of Bukovina would  become one of the sights of Europe.&quot; (...) &quot;There is no other country  in the world to offer something like that.&quot;<br />

            Built in the 15th- 16th centuries, by the will of rulers  like Stephen the Great, Peter Raresh, Alexander Lapushneanu, of noblemen like  Luca Arbore, Theodor Bubuiog, Chancellor Tautu, or metropolitan bishop  Anastasie Crimea, the churches were painted on the outside, too, after 1530, at  the initiative of ruler Peter Raresh, and through the efforts of bishop  Grigorie Roshca.<br />

            Seven of the foundations of that era, with their walls  painted also at the exterior are now present in the UNESCO Catalogue,  &quot;Great Monuments of the World&quot;. We shall name them, in the order of  the frescoes achievement.<br />

  &quot;Thanks to the exceptional value of its monuments,  Bukovina was awarded in 1975, Pomme d'Or ('Golden Apple') from the Journalist  and Tourism Writers International Federation (FIJET), an award now to be  admired at Moldovitsa Monastery.</p>

  

          <div class="images"> <img src="<?= $this->images_url ?>humor.jpg" alt="Humor Monastery" /><br />

            Humor Monastery (16th century)</div>

          

          <h3>Humor</h3>

          

          <p>On an older place, the Chancellor Theodor  Bubuiog raised in 1530 a church on a three-cusped plan, with an open porch on an  archway, an innovation of local inspiration (i.e., the peasant porch), and of  the Renaissance (loggia). The painting, made in 1535 by &quot;Toma, painter of  Sucheava&quot;, preserves the Byzantine iconographic scheme at the interior,  and represents the most complex exterior fresco of the time, unique by its  value being the image on the porch tympanum, i.e. &quot;The Holy Virgin with  Child&quot;. It is a nun monastery, holding an important collection of 16th  century icons.</p>

          

          <div class="images"> <img src="<?= $this->images_url ?>humor-rugs.jpg" alt="Humor Rugs" /><br />

            Humor Rugs</div>

            

            

          <h3>Voronets</h3>

          

          <p>Voronets was originally a hermitage built in only three months and  three weeks, in 1488, by request of Stephen the Great, for the benefit of  Daniel the Hermit. The exonarthex was added by the bishop Grigorie Roshca, in  1547, that being also the year of adding the outside painting. If in the nave  and the altar, the original iconography generally respects the canons, at the  facades of the church the anonymous painters allowed themselves some genuine  interventions,- so we meet there characters dressed in Bukovina folk costumes,  Romanian traditional music instruments, while the &quot;Last Judgement&quot;,  that is deployed on the western wall is deemed unique in the art of the  Christian East, as well as the most renowned 'Voronets blue' thus fully  justifying the name of the 'Sixtine Chapel facing the world'.<br />

          Witnesses to the 'archipelago of monasteries' still  are the other foundings of the Moldavian rulers, from Roman the 1st Mushat, to  Vasile Lupu, and Dimitrie Cantemir, that are kept on the whole of Moldavia.</p>

          

          <div class="images"> <img src="<?= $this->images_url ?>voronet3.jpg" alt="Voronets Monastery" /><br />

            Voronets Monastery (15th - 16th century)</div>

          

          

          <h3>Suchevitsa</h3>

          <p>The last church in Bukovina with painting on its  facades, was built in 1586 by the family of the ruler Movila, with the help of  the metropolitan bishop Theodosie Barbovski. It is a three-cusped building of  great size, with a closed front porch, and two lateral smaller,  pillar-supported ones. In 1596, covering of the outside walls took place, with  the greatest number of religious images that exist on a country church. At  Suchevitsa, &ldquo;the last will of the ancient Moldavian art&rdquo; (Paul Henry), the  &ldquo;Jesse`s Tree&rdquo;, the &bdquo;Last Supper&rdquo; or the &bdquo;Staircase of John  the Climax&rdquo; acquire the largest iconographic interpretation in Romania, being  written down among the most valuable compositions of this country medieval  painting.</p>

          

          <div class="images"> <img src="<?= $this->images_url ?>voronet.jpg" alt="Voronets Monastery" /><br />

            Voronets Monastery - fresco on the southern facade</div>

            

            

            

          <h3>Moldovitsa</h3>

          <p>Moldovitsa is another foundation of the ruler Petru Raresh,  of 1532, endowed with a monumental open porch, on columns and frames in broken  arch, of Gothic inspiration. The &ldquo;Crucifixion&rdquo; in the nave represents the best  achievement in the Bukovina frescoes of the time (1537), as well as the &ldquo;Siege  of Constantinople&rdquo;, the largest and most minute rendering of that theme in the  local outside painting. The enclosure, with strong defence walls, also includes  the Museum of Ancient Art. </p>

          

          <div class="images"> <img src="<?= $this->images_url ?>voronet2.jpg" alt="Voronets Monastery" /><br />

            Voronets Monastery - Jesse's Tree</div>

          

          

          

          <h3>Wine and fruit growing</h3>

          <p>At Cotnari, in the ruins of the Getic-Dacian citadel on the  Catalina hill, proof was found, that certifies local growing of vine 2,000  years ago. So, Stephen the Great, in the 15th century, only kept on with the  work of his ancestors, having its residence and extended cellars -they still  are nowadays - in the vineyard of that 'Sun king' of Romanian wines, about  which the ruler Dimitrie Cantemir wrote:&rsquo; I dare to consider it more selected  and better than many other European wines, including that of Tokaj'. 'Grasa of  Cotnari', the basic variety that kept unchanged along times, secures the wine a  sweet taste, with flavour of dried raisin.<br />

At Jassy, on the hills surrounding the city, there are  mainly produced white wines (i.e., Aligote, Feteasca, Sauvignon, Muscat  Ottonel).<br />

The wine of Hushi was considered by the ruler Cantemir in  second place, immediately after that of Cotnari, its celebrity being ensured,  perhaps until our <br />

days, by the 'Busuioaca of Bohotin', a sweet wine obtained  from the long time matured grapes; the voivodes Stephen the Great, Peter  Raresh, Vasile Lupu exported from that area in the 15th through 17th centuries.<br />

Nicoreshti is the name Stephen the Great gave to the  vineyard where the hetman Nicoara offered the ruler the local red wine, with a  balanced taste and a well preserved flavour of grapes.<br />

At the foot of Vranchea Mountains, three vineyards make the  fame of the main wine growing area of this country. At Odobeshti, there are  still preserved ancient Romanian varieties (Feteasca, Babeasca, Galbena -Yellow  of Odobeshti), that ensure superior white and red wines; Panchu bases its fame  on the sparkling wines, prepared in the cellars as ancient as the time of  Stephen the Great, as well as on beverages of the brandy type; the vineyard  Coteshti attracts with red wines of the best quality, especially Feteasca  Neagra, with black currant flavour.<br />

Around the vineyards, or absolutely independent, grow  apple, pear, and above all plum orchards, from whose fruits the well known  national drink is obtained, tsuica, an appetiser accompanying any  self-respecting meal.</p>



<div class="images"> <img src="<?= $this->images_url ?>dyed-eggs.jpg" alt="Dyed Eggs" /><br />

            Dyed Eggs</div>

            

            

          <h3>Personalities</h3>

          <p>Passing through time of the Moldavian rulers was marked by  funeral monuments, memorial houses, works of art: Bogdanthe 1st (1359-1365,  Radautsi), Alexander the Good (1400-1432, Bistritsa Monastery), Stephen the  Great (1457-1504, Putna Monastery, Sucheava, Jassy, Barseshti-Vrancea), Peter  Raresh (1527-1546, Moldovitsa, Probota, Rashca monasteries), Alexander  Lapushneanu (1552-1568, Slatina Monastery), loan Voda the Brave (1572-1574,  Jilishte-Vrancea), Dimitrie Cantemir (1710-1711, Hushi, Bucharest), Alexander  loan Cuza (1859-1866, Jassy, Ruginoasa, Galatsi).<br />

There also lived in Moldavia; the scholar who promoted the  introduction of Romanian language into church, bishop Dosoftei (1624-1693,  Jassy), one of the greatest poets and journalists ever, Mihai Eminescu  (1850-1889, Ipoteshti, his natal village, Jassy, Putna, Bucharest, Constantza),  the best known musician of this country, interpreter and conductor, George  Enescu (1881-1955, Liveni, Dorohoi, Tescani, Bucharest 'George Enescu International  Music Festival'), the scholar, historian, and writer Nicholas lorga (1871-1940,  Botoshani, Valenii de Munte, Bucharest), the writer Mihail Sadoveanu  (1880-1961, Jassy, Neamts Monastery, Bucharest), the writer Ion Creanga  (1839-1889, Targu Neamts, Jassy, Bucharest), composer Chiprian Porumbescu  (1853-1883, Shipotele Suchevei, Sucheava, Putna, Bucharest), the scholar and  politician Mihail Kogalnicheanu (1817-1891, Jassy, Piatra Neamts, Bucharest).<br />

During the WWI (1916-1918), Moldavia was the territory where  famous battles were given; signs of gratitude to the memory of heroes now are  the statues, the ossuaries, and the mausoleums at Marasheshti, Marashti, Vidra,  Soveja, Oneshti, Grozeshti, Jassy, Vaslui.<br />

The military museums evoke the personalities of marshals  Alexander Averescu, Constantin Prezan and General Eremia Grigorescu, head of  armies group that stopped the German offensive, in August 1917. The memorial  architectural complex at Marasheshti reminds Trophaeum Trajani, the monument  raised on this land, at Adamclisi, Dobrudja, by the Roman emperor Trajan (109  AD).</p>

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